Hardware Pros - ELSA 3D Revelator Glasses

Introduction: As I'm sure you know, ELSA has made a big name for themselves in the consumer video arena, with their Erazor, Victory and Winner line of cards they have done a great job at putting their video expertise to work. Now, they have done something different, they have attempted to turn flat 3D into real 3D with their new 3D Revelator LCD stereoscopic shutter glasses. What exactly do I mean by real 3D? Well, 3D accelerators as great as they are, only take a 3D image and map it to a flat 2D monitor. There is very little sense of depth or realism. ELSA's 3D Revelator glasses use a technology called stereoscopic vision, which like its audio counterpart, uses 2 distinct images to form a sense of depth. What happens is that a left and right image are separately generated and displayed on screen. The LCD lenses allow either the left eye or the right eye to see the image and then it switches to other eye at an incredibly high speed. Because of the high speed, the brain merges this information together and thus a sense of depth is formed. The glasses refresh at a rate of 100-140Hz so that the switching between left and right images is not perceptible at all. This technology is not new, in fact its been tried many times, but none have succeeded because of poor implementation or they only worked on specifically coded games. ELSA on the other hand has gotten these glasses to work with 99% of games that use Microsoft's Direct3D API. OpenGL games currently do not work, but I don't see why they wouldn't in the near future. Specifications/Requirements: Here are the specs and requirements, courtesy of ELSA's Web Site: Features: Versions: Infra-red version and cable version Refresh Rates: 100-140 Hz some individuals may experience screen flicker at lower refresh rates Power Supply: Infra-red version: batteries, type CR2032, life cycle ca. 200 hours Cable Version: via connector cable LCD Separation: Infra-red version: individually adjustable, 5.5-6.5 cm Shutter Dimensions: Width 29.5 mm x height 23 mm Connector: VESA stereo standard, 3 pin Mini-DIN Requirements: System: The computer meet the system requirements as recommended by 3D applications. Graphics Board: ELSA VICTORY II, ELSA WINNER II, ELSA ERAZOR II or ELSA ERAZOR III Monitor: Monitor: Any monitor capable of minimum100 Hz refresh rate in the desired resolution (recommended) Ok, I think we shall take a moment and look some of this information. ELSA has both an infra-red and cable version available. The nice thing about the infra-red version is that you can move around anywhere and there is no cable lying around to bother you. However, we had the opportunity of testing the cable version and to tell you the truth, it didn't bother us one bit. The cable is so thin and long that it didn't even feel like it was there. Besides, with the infra-red version, you have buy batteries :) By the way, the picture above shows the infra-red version. The other important thing to note is that the 3D Revelator must be used with one of the ELSA cards mentioned above. Unfortunately, this limits the amount of people who can use this product. ELSA has made the glasses work with a vast majority of games but only people with their cards can enjoy it. Fortunately, we were able to gather that ELSA is willing to license their technology out to other companies so that it can work with other cards in the future. For now, owners of ELSA cards will be the lucky ones. The only other requirements of the glasses are that your monitor supports at least a 100Hz refresh rate and that your system is capable of playing the games you want. Most people have monitors that can support great than 100Hz refresh rates at 640x480 and 800x600 so this shouldn't be a problem. One more quick note, these glasses are incredibly lightweight and pretty comfortable too. I was happy to see that these glasses fit well on people who wear regular vision-correction glasses (we actually have to distinguish nowadays!). I personally wear glasses, and I was able wear both at the same time with comfort. The 3D Revelator glasses didn't slip off or pull tightly on the ears. However, it would have been nice if ELSA could have made them a bit more stylish! Installation/Drivers : Surprisingly, installation was very easy. There is a little pass-through type of cable that you plug into the back of your video card. The monitor cable and 3D Revelator cable both connect to the this pass through. Then all we had to do was install the software provided on ELSA's WinnerWARE CD and we were ready to go. We didn't have to change any game settings at all to get this to work. The drivers that come with the 3D Revelator are very stable and well designed. Controls are provided for in-game adjustment to the two stereo images displayed on screen. For instance, you can adjust how far apart the two images are so that you don't see double vision when viewed through the glasses. You can also pop up a small graph on screen (during the game) which shows you the various parameters of the drivers which you can adjust, mostly depth oriented stuff. Finally there is also a hot-key which turns the stereoscopic effect on and off very quickly. Features like these are what makes the product stand-out. Not only is it a solid product, but it also allows you to customize the view to your preference while your in the game. How Well Does It Work? So you're curious above how well this thing actually works with Direct3D games? Well, the first game we popped in was Half-Life. As I'm sure you know, Half-Life is a very nice looking game even though its based on the aging Quake II engine. I launched the game and the glasses went dim (that's how you know they are working), and then the depth thing kicked in. At first the display wasn't so clear, so I used the controls to adjust the separation and depth and then it was a lot better. It can take a little while for the eyes to get used to and you should take breaks every little bit (it is pretty intense!). Anyway, the game looked pretty cool and certainly did add a sense of depth and realism to the walls and characters but this didn't make me jump out of my seat yet. I then tried forsaken and the effects were better, probably due to the fact that forsaken is so much more vibrant and dizzying even without the glasses! Again the effects were extremely cool but not ground-shaking. So I then popped in Rogue Squadron, and guess what? I flew out of my seat! What I saw through the glasses in this game is just indescribable, all I can say is that it was really 3D!! Every object and mountain was so clear and you could tell exactly how far each object was. They popped out so much that you felt like you could actually bend around too see the other side of a building, it was truly an amazing experience. The next game was Stars Wars Episode 1 Racer. This game also looked incredibly cool, the very fast speed in this game provided a slightly different and more intense gaming experience with the glasses. Next up? Unreal. Like Rogue Squadron, Unreal also provided a wonderful experience. I started to notice a trend, games that have large outdoor and spacious environments tend to provide a better experience. Overall, the experience was very fun, it was so hard for us to actually stop playing and sit down and write this review. Ratings/Conclusion Area Score Performance 97 Visual Impact 98 Game Compatibility 85 Installation 98 Quality/Design 85 Price 95 Overall 93 Now and then we get a product that is actually fun to review, this was definitely one of those products! The ELSA 3D Revelator glasses are simply amazing, what more can I say? They work with almost every Direct3D game and provide a sense of depth that is truly amazing. The only real drawback to these glasses is that currently they don't work with OpenGL games and you must have an ELSA card to use them. Both of these could very easily change at any time. If you're bored with the same old flat 3D image of your screen and want to get INTO the game, then you should get these glasses!